this came from a freewriting exercise we wrote from Moniza Alvi’s line ”I could take an icebird”
and used the words ”etching” ”whisper” (whoops I missed that one) ”domain”, ”ship”, ”breath”
my thanks to workshop partner for this half who actually felt five minutes free writing was too short. Next year when it is with the right group and I am in the right headspace I would like to try doing extended free writes possibly with more input or lines to hang the words on. This is the current poem from the free writing

Ice Birds
The kind you find etched on your window
b r e a t h i n g as they melt
as the sun weakly shines
there are songs only the ice birds sing
beaks
their
above
glass
the
etching
notation for those who take the time to notice it
you have often wondered where an ice bird keeps its nest
where they fly outside the pane
trapped beauty for your late nights
with vast windows and inadequate curtains
gifting you a moment to focus on something other than
rolling mist of your breath r a t t l i n g leaves in your lungs pinched joints
the ice bird reminds you there is flight, is sky,
that you have been on ships with hopeful whirling gulls
over deck and you thought you saw porpoises
in the small ferries wake the last time you left the island
in the watery domain a flickering trick of light
you felt no need to make sense of their existence.